While visiting the Rakai area of Uganda recently, I had an opportunity to walk in the hills just north of the Tanzania border. This is a beautiful area but many of the children in this community live in serious poverty

Welcome to the Rakai District of Southern Uganda:

While visiting Rakai recently, I had an opportunity to walk in the
hills just north of the Tanzania border. This is a beautiful area
which reminded me of the Okanagan near my home in British Columbia
Canada. My doctor friend was visiting some families to help with
health issues and I went along to see the work they do.

Meet some very needy children!

This is the most amazing beautiful place … but in the midst of the
beauty were children who were neglected, infested with parasites,
shivering, and almost naked. These children were living in the worst
home situation I have ever seen. Even worse than the refugee camps I
have been in.

Our friend Dan Douglas (a doctor), cleaned the kids up and treated
their Jiggers. Jiggers are painful to have as they burrow into the
children like ticks and then live off the flesh and lay eggs.

Jiggers have to be cut out. The kids get them from the mud because
they have no shoes. In bad cases, the Jiggers get into their feet,
back, bottom, and other places. As these homes have outdoor open pit
toilets, the wet soil around the toilet is often a perfect place for
the Jiggers to infest and find hosts.

This community of about 20 families is very poor and these specific
kids were also in a bad home situation which complicated things even
more. These kids dad was dead and the mother was not around. There
were older siblings but they were not caring for the little ones.

This specific house had about 16 people living in two rooms. All ages
were represented here, from a few years old to teens which leads me to
suspect these little ones actually face many issues. A lack of care
and clothing is an immediate issue for them.

This family is not an isolated situation in this community. Many of
the children here are in need of care and clothing.

What can we do about this?

Terry and I, Patrick (a Ugandan) two Courtney & Miki (from the
US), and Rod (from Australia) are heading back to Rakai as soon as
possible and will try to provide shoes and clothes for each child
there. Hopefully they will each get a pair of sandals, a pair of
pants, a shirt, and a pair of underwear.

We have arranged to have a medical team come with us who will address
any medical issues while we clean up the kids and dress them in clothes.

We expect that local church leaders will provide follow up support to
this community.

What will it cost to help these children?

We have a budget of $10 US for each child for the entire outfit.
These won't be fancy threads, but they will address the basic need.
To outfit each of the estimated 80 children here, we will need to
raise $800 US.

Our actual fund raising target is $1100 US so that
we can also cover the cost of a few meds. Children recovering from
Jiggers will need some ointments and antibiotics to protect them
against infection.

Please partner with us!

As we don't have an income at this time, Terry and I don't actually
have $1100 US to do this work. We can't just leave
these kids to try and survive however, so we invite you to contribute
something to help them. Donations small and large will add up quickly
to change circumstances for these children.

Perhaps you have a friend who would find the story compelling and
might contribute as well. This could be a great relationship builder
in your workplace, school, or nieghborhood.

You are able to donate immediately using PayPal or your Credit
Card right here on this page.

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Canadian supporters can also donate through Children Arise and
recieve a tax reciept. To donate through Children Arise ONLINE HERE or by sending your
cheque to the following address:

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